USS Johnston (DD-557) was a built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after Lieutenant John V. Johnston, an officer of the US Navy during the American Civil War. Johnston was laid down in May 1942 and was launched on 25 March 1943. She entered active duty on 27 October 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans and was assigned to the US Pacific Fleet. Johnston provided naval gunfire support for American ground forces during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in January and February 1944 and again, after three months of patrol and escort duty in the Solomon Islands, during the recapture of Guam in July. Thereafter, Johnston was tasked with escorting escort carriers during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and the liberation of the Philippines.
On 25 October 1944, while assigned as part of the escort to six escort carriers, Johnston, two other Fletcher-class destroyers, and four destroyer escorts were engaged by a large Imperial Japanese Navy flotilla. In what became known as the Battle off Samar, Johnston and the other escort ships charged the Japanese ships to protect nearby US carriers and transport craft. After engaging several Japanese capital ships and a destroyer squadron, Johnston was sunk with 187 dead, including Evans. Johnstons wreck was discovered on 30 October 2019 but was not properly identified until March 2021. Lying more than below the surface of the ocean, it was the deepest shipwreck ever surveyed until the 22 June 2022 discovery of , sunk during the same engagement.
Design and characteristics To rectify the top-heaviness and stability problems of the preceding and es, the Fletcher class was greatly increased in size over the older designs. This allowed them to accept additional anti-aircraft (AA) guns and electronic equipment as well as their operators without sacrificing guns or torpedoes as the older ships were forced to do during the war. The Fletchers displaced at standard load and at deep load, roughly 30 percent more than the Bensons and Gleaves.
In early 1942, the design of the Fletchers was modified to reduce top weight and to simplify the construction of the bridge by squaring off the curves at its front. One deck was removed from the aft superstructure and the base of the fire-control director above the bridge was shortened by . The splinter plating protecting the bridge and the director was also reduced in thickness. In addition, visibility from the bridge was improved by the addition of an open platform connected to the bridge wings.
The ships had an overall length of , with a draft of and beam of . The ships were powered by two General Electric geared steam turbines that each drove one propeller shaft using steam provided by four Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines produced which was intended to give the ships a top speed of . The destroyers carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at . They were crewed by 9 officers and 264 enlisted men.
Armament, fire control, protection and sensors The main battery of the Fletcher-class destroyers consisted of five dual-purpose /38 caliber guns in single mounts which were grouped in superfiring pairs fore and after of the superstructure. The fifth mount was positioned on the aft superstructure forward of the aft pair. The guns were controlled by the Mark 37 director. Their anti-aircraft battery depended on the availability of the weapons, but Johnston was built with ten Bofors guns in five powered twin-gun mounts and seven manually operated Oerlikon cannons. The forward pair of Bofors mounts were located forward of the bridge and the second pair were on platforms abreast the aft funnel with one mount on each broadside; the last mount was positioned between the aft superfiring pair of guns and the single mounts forward of them. Each mount was controlled by a nearby Mark 51 director. Four Oerlikons were located amidships, two on each broadside, and three were grouped in a triangle at the stern, next to the depth charge racks.
The ships were fitted with two racks, each holding eight depth charges and adjacent to them were two storage racks with five depth charges each. Abreast the aft superstructure were six "K-gun" throwers, three on each side, with five depth charges. The destroyers were equipped with two quintuple rotating torpedo tube mounts for Mark 15 torpedoes.
The Fletchers had only minimal armor that was intended to protect against shell splinters and fragments. The sides of the propulsion machinery compartments consisted of plates of special treatment steel (STS) while the deck above them consisted of STS. The "square bridge" ships like Johnston had the splinter armor of the bridge reduced from the 0.75-inch armor of the earlier "round bridge" ships to . Furthermore, the protective plating of the Mark 37 director was reduced from the earlier 0.75 inches to 0.5 inches.
The Fletcher-class destroyers were equipped with a Mark 4 or Mark 12 fire-control radar on the roof of the Mark 37 director. A SC-2 early-warning radar and a SG surface-search radar were fitted on the foremast. For anti-submarine work, the ships used a QC series sonar.
Construction and service history Construction of Johnston, named after Lieutenant John V. Johnston, an officer of the US Navy during the American Civil War, began with the laying of her keel at the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation's yard on 6 May 1942. Her launch, sponsored by Marie S. Klinger, Lt. Johnston's grandniece, took place on 25 March 1943. Johnston was finally commissioned into the United States Navy and placed under the command of Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans, a man of Native American Cherokee descent who had participated in the Battle of the Java Sea and who later commanded the destroyer USS Alden. She then sailed to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and fitted out into early November. On 15 November, Johnston sailed for San Diego, California. From 19 November to 1 January 1944, Johnston put out to sea for her shakedown cruise and her crew trained with fleet units near San Diego.
Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
On 13 January 1944 Johnston set sail for Hawaii with a US Navy squadron led by Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf and arrived 21 January. From there, Johnston sailed to join the ongoing campaign against the Japanese Empire in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. She arrived by 29 January and was assigned to Fire Support Group 53.5 under Oldendorf. On 30 January, she screened for the cruisers , , , and the battleship as they provided naval gunfire support for American forces in the Wotje Atoll. Johnston sailed for the Kwajalein Atoll, where from 31 January to 3 February she provided gunfire support for American forces attacking Roi-Namur Island.
Johnston was reassigned on 5 February 1944 to escort transport ships to the Ellice Islands with destroyers and , and the destroyer-minesweeper . The convoy set sail on 6 February but en route Johnston was ordered to return to the Marshalls for resupply. She arrived on 8 February, refueled, and then set sail for Kwajalein on 10 February. Her arrival was delayed until the next day after jellyfish clogged and overheated her condensers.
Almost as soon Johnston arrived, she was tasked with investigating a sighting of a Japanese submarine. No such vessel was detected. Early on 12 February, Japanese bombers attacked Roi-Namur, inflicting heavy casualties to the occupying Americans. In response to their detection on radar, Johnston and the other present American ships laid smoke to obscure their positions. They were not attacked. Over the next three days, Johnston resupplied, took on supplies from , 5 in shells from , and fuel oil from . Johnston was then attached to Operation Catchpole, the American attack on Enewetak Atoll. From 16 to 18 February, Johnston screened for battleships , , and , and cruisers Indianapolis, and as they bombarded Engebi Island. Then, from 19 to 25 February, Johnston provided gunfire support for American troops herself and patrolled for submarines.
Solomon Islands campaign
On 25 February 1944, Johnston was relieved of patrol duty and was assigned to screen the escort carrier with . The trio was ordered back to the Marshall Islands on 28 February and arrived on 1 March. Johnston resupplied over the next five days. On 7 March the flotilla, joined by , sailed for Espiritu Santo and arrived on 13 March. Johnston docked in the auxiliary floating drydock for minor repairs from 18 to 19 March, then set out for the Solomon Islands on 20 March. She arrived at Purvis Bay, near Guadalcanal, the following day and was subsequently assigned to patrol duties around New Ireland. On 27–28 March, Johnston and her sister ships , , and were dispatched to bombard Kapingamarangi Atoll, in the Caroline Islands. Upon their return to the Solomons on 29 March, the destroyers were assigned additional patrol duties. For the rest of March and all of April, they patrolled the northern Solomons, escorted Allied shipping to and from them, and occasionally provided gunfire support for the US Army's XIV Corps on Bougainville Island.
Johnston began May 1944 moored in Purvis Bay undergoing minor repairs. On 6 May, she sailed to New Georgia with Franks, Haggard, Hailey, and Hoel to screen for and and then for a minelaying operation between Bougainville and Buka Island on 10 May. Two days later, Haggard, Franks and Johnston were alerted by an American scout plane to the presence of the off Buka. The destroyers immediately began searching for the vessel and, late on 16 May, discovered it. Haggard, then Johnston, and then Franks attacked the submarine with depth charges and sank it after midnight on 17 May. The destroyers resumed their anti-submarine patrols on 18 May, then screened for Montpelier, Cleveland, and as they shelled Japanese coastal guns on the Shortland Islands two days later. Johnston thereafter resumed patrol and escort duty, then docked with the destroyer tender for minor repairs from 27 May to 2 June.
Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
On 3 June 1944, Johnston joined a convoy of US warships headed to Kwajalein to join a fleet gathering to recapture Guam. The convoy arrived on 8 June, then made for Guam four days later with the invasion force and arrived by 18 June. The ongoing Battle of Saipan, however, delayed the invasion. On 30 June, the fleet was ordered to return to Kwajalein; Johnston arrived on 3 July and returned to patrol duty. When the invasion force was ordered back to Guam on 14 July, Johnston again sailed as part of its screen. The fleet arrived four days later. From 21 July to 1 August, Johnston joined several battleships, cruisers, and destroyers to furnish gunfire support for the 1st Marine Brigade and the 77th Infantry Division. Afterwards, from 2 to 9 August, she screened for American ships. On 9 August, Johnston was ordered, with Franks, Haggard, Haily, , , , Cleveland, and to return to the Marshalls.
The flotilla arrived on 12 August, resupplied, and then sailed for Espiritu Santo from 19 to 24 August. Three days later, after undergoing minor repairs, Johnston set sail for Purvis Bay with Pennsylvania, , Louisville, Minneapolis, and seven other destroyers. The flotilla arrived on 29 August and joined escort carriers , , , , with whom Johnston trained for carrier escort duty. On 4 September, Johnston, Haggard, Hailey, and , escorting Petrof Bay, Kalinan Bay, and , set sail for the Palau Islands and the invasions of Peleliu and of Angaur. Johnston escorted these escort carriers until 18 September, when Johnston was reassigned to escort , , and . Johnston and her charges received orders on 21 September to proceed to Ulithi, an atoll in the Caroline Islands, where they arrived on 23 September.
Battle off Samar